A Modest Proposal Summary

Jonathan Swift wrote a “A Modest Proposal” to offer a solution to solve the poverty issue in Ireland. Swift knew children were considered a burden to the poor and society as a whole. Therefore, they would never receive the proper care and nourishment that the current economy could provide and continue the decline of an economically struggling Ireland. The purpose of his “modest” proposal was to convert the children into useful members of Ireland’s society. The only logical conclusion to remedy the economic decline was to raise a child and fatten him or her up until he or she became one year old. At that point, the child could be sold to rich landowners or to the meat market to supplement the drain that poverty created in Ireland. Children became